It is known to heat, dry and cook with infrared radiant energy. In particular, gas grills that cook with infrared radiant energy are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,948 to Best describes a prior type of burner used at the present time in most infrared grills. U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,857 to Best describes this prior type of grill. These types of grills produce at least one half of the energy used for cooking in the form of convection (hot air). Examples of exceptions are the infrared burner systems described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,114,666 to Best and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0003279 to Best. These allow for at least a majority of the energy used for cooking to be in the form of infrared radiant energy. In addition, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0003279 describes, among other things, a gas-fired infrared burner that is configured to nonuniformly heat an infrared energy emitter so that energy is substantially uniformly emitted over the infrared energy emitter.
Whereas the above-mentioned references disclose significant advances, there is always a desire for a different balance of properties.